If your morning meal consists of a calorie-dense bagel and a jolt of morning joe, it's time to rethink what makes a breakfast nutritious.

Most people know that eating a healthy breakfast is the right way to start the day, but they may not be sure how to make the most nutritious choices.

“A nutritious breakfast is a meal that has protein and carbohydrates and it can also have a little fat,” says Barbara Schmidt, MS, RD, lifestyle specialist at Norwalk Hospital and a nutritionist in private practice in New Canaan, CT. “Protein makes you alert and it stays with you. You don’t get the sugar-low crash you do after having coffee and a pastry.”

Carbohydrates, like fruit and whole grains, provide energy, and the best ones also deliver high fiber to help digestion. “With high-fiber choices, my body’s using up 25 percent of the high-fiber foods’ calories just to digest it and it’s going to fill me up, too,” says Schmidt.

Unfortunately, many people shun protein sources and make the wrong carbohydrate choices, reaching for sugary cereals, or worse, pastries that provide empty calories rather than whole grains and fiber. Here’s how to build a better breakfast.

Healthy Breakfast: Do the Nutrition Two-Step

Picking foods with protein, carbohydrates, and fiber is an easy way to get a nutritious breakfast:

Start with low-fat dairy.Schmidt suggests building a healthy breakfast around a base of either a cup of fat-free milk or yogurt because these dairy choices give you protein and carbohydrates with zero fat. It’s also a great source of calcium.

“I love Greek-style yogurt,” says Schmidt. “It’s a strained yogurt so there is a higher concentration of protein and it’s thicker, but you have to buy the zero percent fat variety. The 2 percent fat ones are like eating sour cream. Plain is best, but the small amount of fruit on the bottom in the flavored varieties doesn’t add too many calories.”

In fact, Schmidt points out that, at 140 calories per container Greek-style yogurts are substantially lower in calories than yogurts that add far more sugar and can top out at 250 calories per serving. “Take the plain, zero-fat Greek-style yogurt and put it on your own fruit — that’s a great breakfast,” says Schmidt.

When it comes to milk, choose fat-free or 1 percent fat. “Drinking 2 percent instead of whole milk doesn’t make enough of a difference. That fat is saturated fat, and those are the ones that we want to eliminate,” explains Schmidt. “Saturated fats raise cholesterol, particularly the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol — it gets pumped out of the liver and deposited in the arteries.”

Consider eggs for breakfast. “Eggs are an excellent source of protein,” says Schmidt. “The egg white is pure protein. The yolk is high in cholesterol and some fat, but it’s also high in nutrients, like iron, vitamin A, and biotin — our only source of this B vitamin. Limit yourself to a maximum of three egg yolks per week, but you can have as many whites as you like, or egg substitutes.”

Add in the right carbs.The next step is adding carbohydrates that deliver fiber and nutrients: Fruit and a whole grain choice.

Berries are at the top of the fruit list because they pack in a host of nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, plus fiber. And because of their high water content you can eat more of them than denser fruits. “The same is true for melon,” says Schmidt. “You get a cup of melon or berries versus half a banana or half a large apple for the same calories. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries — the richer and brighter the color, the more antioxidants and vitamins they will have. In winter when they are prohibitively expensive, I buy frozen berries.” Just look for those without any added sugar.

Whole grains are another carb group to add to the nutritious breakfast mix. Choices range from a simple piece of whole wheat toast — top it with a soft-boiled egg — to a high-fiber, high-protein whole grain waffle that you can spread with peanut butter and sprinkle with sliced bananas and strawberries. Schmidt’s favorite is a hot bowl of the multi-grain cereal with flaxseed and skim milk. To make any hot cereal, she suggests cooking 1/3 cup cereal with 1 cup of skim milk rather than water for a more nutritious breakfast: “Microwave for 2 minutes, then add 3/4 cup of frozen berries and zap it for one more minute.” She also suggests scrambling eggs or egg whites with leftover spinach or other vegetables and folding them up in a high-fiber flax, oat bran, or whole wheat tortilla or wrap. “It makes a great breakfast burrito,” says Schmidt.

Schmidt is a fan of flaxseed. These whole grain seeds are high in omega-3 fatty acids as well as fiber. Flaxseed can be added to yogurt or sprinkled on fruit, but buy your flaxseed ground up or soak the seeds before using them — it'll help release the soluble fibers. There are also many other grain products with flaxseed already in them.

Nutritious Breakfast on the Go? Watch What You Grab

For fast grains on the go, many people reach for granola. Not so fast, warns Schmidt: People think granola is a health food, but packaged varieties are loaded with sugar. Instead, mix your own. Start with a whole grain cereal base like bran flakes, and add in nuts, raisins, and other dried fruits like apricots, apple slices, and prunes. “The ratio of grain to nuts should be at least two to one,” says Schmidt. Make sure the dried fruits you buy aren’t sugared, and keep in mind that, from a calorie count, 2 tablespoons of granola mix is equal to a full cup of berries because nuts as well as dried fruits are calorie-dense.

If you’re a parent wrestling with a child who wants a high-sugar cereal, you can adapt many of these breakfast ideas. “Stay away from all cereal for a while,” suggests Schmidt. “Try making an English muffin pizza with skim milk mozzarella and tomato sauce or an open-faced grilled cheese sandwich with whole wheat bread and American cheese. Switch to something totally different from cereal, then revisit a non-sugary cereal at a later date.”

Whether you find a favorite cereal you enjoy nearly every morning or you like to sample a different meal each day, putting together a healthy breakfast can be quick, easy, and fulfilling.

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